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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

I had bought tickets awhile back when they had a sale, and it was well worth it (even with the 3 hour drive and pouring rain!).

It was a little ironic that it is nestled into a little place called "Dry Gulch", because, it was anything but dry. It had been storming all day, and kept on storming the whole time we were there.

Evan LOVED that he could catch the rain falling off daddy's umbrella.

And, let me just say, folks. I am a rain boot/snow boot junkie. I buy my kids a pair of both rain boots and snow boot EVERY year. I know it seems a little crazy, because, really, you say, how many times will you use them? And it's totally true. We don't use them more than a couple handfuls a year, but when we do, my GOSH do we have fun! And it's SO worth it.

Puddle jumping is a great uber-fun sport for the kiddos, and I don't even blink at the thought of them walking around for another two hours in those socks that would normally now be drenched and on their way to trench foot. ME! NOT freaking out! I KNOW, right?

SO, that being said, splish splash they went!

Once we got inside, we were given our boarding passes (which were NOT hole punched in super cool shapes or words by a Tom Hanks conductor, but were cool, nonetheless....)

The train ride itself was a really cool experience. The rain made it a bit harder to see, but it was REALLY cool.

Look at all these rain boots! :)

The train ride took us through the story of Christmas, from His birth to his death, to his resurrection.

(and those are real people, by the way, in the pouring rain!)

Once off the train, we walked around the rest of the village, which had a lot of fun things to do and see. The workers were all dressed in colonial costumes, there were carolers and conductors and elves and even a big jolly Saint Nick!

This was the first time we rode the carousel. Evan didn't want to ride a horse, so he and daddy watched the world go by from Santa's sleigh. :)

Emma, Isabel, and I went with the horses behind them.

We later traded them in for real ponies.

Ev got to ride the donkey.

Isn't he the cutest?!?

Warming our cold hands on one of the many bonfires around the village.

The kids got to visit Santa and let him know the final list of wishes.

The bumper Cars were fun, until Em's broke down.

Once they gave her a new one, the real bumping began!

...and Ev decided to give the fake horses a go, seeing as how the real ones hadn't ran off into the woods with him atow.

Sweet Emm went with the zebra this time.

We were cold and wet and hungry by the time we left on our loooong drive back home, but we were happy, and after a Pizza Hut stop the kids quieted down to rythmic sleeping breaths and we zoomed home to warm beds and hot cocoa breath in our ears as we carried them to bed.

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All written material and original photographs copyright Heidi E. Castro (c) 2008-2017. All rights reserved.

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